


Watching Beauty and the Beast

by coffeebean87



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Disney, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-24
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-19 11:56:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3609252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeebean87/pseuds/coffeebean87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, I posted this on Tumblr around Christmas, but did not put up a "Keep Reading," so the length might have deterred some people.  Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite Disney movies, and I can say that a few aspects of it remind me of Bucky and Natasha's story.  I hope you guys enjoy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Watching Beauty and the Beast

It was a cold December afternoon in New York City.   Natasha Romanoff walked out of a bustling New York department store with her good friend James “Bucky” Barnes in tow.  Each of them was laden with heavy shopping bags full of gifts for their friends and teammates, as well as gifts for each other.   As Natasha and James made the brisk walk from the department store to the subway station, snow began to fall on the ground.   “Wonderful,” thought Natasha to herself.  “Of all the days we could have picked to go Christmas shopping, we had to pick the day when the weatherman said the City would get two inches of snow.”   Since Natasha was looking up at the sky, though, she did not notice the patch of black ice three feet in front of her.  Lucky for her, James was there to catch her before she fell.   “Easy Natalia,” he said as he kept her upright.  She smiled upon hearing him call her by her real name.   “Listen, those bags look mighty heavy.   Are you sure you do not want me to carry a few of them?”   “I’ll manage, James,” she responded.  “Besides, we have not got that much farther to go.”  “Okay, I trust you,” he responded.   Natasha smiled again.   She was happy that James cared enough to offer assistance when he thought she needed it, but knew not to smother her.

After a brief subway ride and a short walk, James and Natasha arrived safely at Stark Tower.   After wrapping and storing some of the gifts, the two decided that they would spend their evening watching a movie.  Choosing a movie was no easy task, though.   Natasha had already shown James every Christmas movie she thought he would like.  Though both of them considered watching one of those movies again, they eventually decided that they wanted to watch something different.

James sifted through a box of DVDs and found a copy of Disney’s "Beauty and the Beast."  “I have never seen this one,” he said.  “You and Steve, though, keep insisting that I should see it.”   It was true; Natasha and Steve had kept telling James that he should watch "Beauty and the Beast."  James, though, had been reluctant to watch it ever since Natasha and Steve warned him about the Prologue, or the beginning of the movie.   It would explain to the audience that the movie was about an arrogant prince who was transformed into a beast as a means of teaching him to love others for who they were, not just for their appearances, as well as to teach him humility.   Natasha knew that although James was coming to accept her and Steve’s insistence that his transformation into the Winter Soldier had not been his fault, that he had done nothing to deserve the suffering he endured, there was still a part of James that believed that his transformation was a means of teaching him humility.  This was especially true after his memories of Brooklyn returned, and he remembered how cocky and self-confident he had been in his younger years.

Right now, however, James sighed and said, “I’ll watch it if you’ll watch it with me.”   Seeing the pleading look in his eyes, Natasha replied, “I would be happy to.”   James placed the DVD in the DVD player, and he and Natasha curled up together on the couch to watch the movie.

James faired relatively well during the Prologue.   Although he did look rather uneasy as the part where the Prince was transformed into the Beast was taking place, Natasha was relieved that he managed to get through it without freaking out.   She knew that he would enjoy the rest of the film.   He seemed especially fascinated as Belle, the Beauty of the story, was introduced.   Natasha had to admit that Belle was among her favorite Disney princesses.   She was intelligent and unafraid to speak her own mind.   Belle was also just as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside.  Natasha always thought whenever she watched this movie that though she did not see herself as beautiful, with all the red she had in her ledger, she could now at least use the skills she had acquired to help rather than harm others.

James looked uneasy again as the Beast was reintroduced.   Natasha looked at the Beast in his full feral form and reasoned that James was likely comparing the Beast to himself as the Winter Soldier.   In response, Natasha took hold of James’s metal hand and said, “Don’t worry.  He does not stay like this for the rest of the movie.”   She was right.  James looked relieved upon watching the scene of the Beast rescuing Belle from the pack of wolves.   Perhaps the scene reminded James of the day he saved Steve from drowning in the Potomac, or the day he saved her from a horde of HYDRA agents just before she and the rest of the Avengers brought him in.   Whatever it was, she was relieved that he looked relaxed again.

As the movie went on, Natasha could not help but smile at the scenes of the Beast attempting to woo Belle and how nervous he was whenever she was around.   Ever since the team had brought James in, Natasha could not help but notice how shy and awkward he was whenever the two of them were in the same room.   She could tell, though, that he deeply cared for her.  That made up for any shortcomings he might have in the charms department.

Then there were the scenes where Belle left the Beast and the mob of villagers set out to kill the Beast.  James once again looked uneasy.   Natasha sensed that James’s unease stemmed first from his fear of losing her once again, along with the rest of his new friends.   She knew that his memories of their relationship in the Red Room had returned, along with his memories of the day their supervisors forced them apart.   She also knew that James had recently come across news editorials stating that he should face punishment for his acts as the Winter Soldier.   Natasha placed her arms around his metal arm and whispered, “We are safe here.  I am not going anywhere.  And do not let those editorials get to you.   Those people do not know any better.”   James smiled and pressed a small kiss to her forehead.

Finally, the scenes where Belle returned to the Beast, where he fought for her, and where her love brought him back from the dead and broke the spell over him came.   Natasha noticed that James seemed to be wiping away a single tear as the picture focused in on the Prince’s eyes.   She noted that the Prince’s eyes were a bright shade of electric blue, much like James’s own eyes.   They were his only feature that stayed constant throughout the movie.   One feature that Natasha had always loved about James was his eyes.  When the team had first brought James in, Natasha noticed that though James’s eyes conveyed an aura of long suffering and hardship, there was still a touch of tenderness in them.  That tenderness had stayed there all throughout James’s recovery.

 After the credits rolled, Natasha sat up and asked, “So what did you think?”

“It was nice,” said James.  “Maybe a little bit too familiar, but I still enjoyed it.”

“I’m glad you did,” Natasha replied.

“Do you want to know what my favorite part of 'Beauty and the Beast' was?” James asked.

“Go on then,” said Natasha.

“Belle,” he replied.   “Maybe because, well, forgive me for saying this, she reminded me so much of you.”   

“Oh,” said Natasha.   “How so?”

“Well, she’s intelligent, unafraid to speak her own mind, and, if you don’t mind me saying it, she’s as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.”

Natasha shook her head.   “Oh James,” she replied, “You know better than anyone else that my ledger is just as red as yours, if not more.  I do not think I would go as far as to describe myself like that.”

 “Oh, but you are,” said James.   “When you were brought in for the first time, you knew that you wanted to go straight.  You were there for me as I was recovering from what HYDRA did to me.   And I have never seen you turn your back on anyone on the team.   No matter what you may think of yourself, you’ll always be beautiful to me.”

 “That’s funny,” said Natasha.   “I believe I could have said the same things about you.”   Natasha and James snuggled into each other.   “We may always see ourselves as Beasts,” thought Natasha, “but we will always be Beauties to each other.”

 


End file.
